Source: LeBron resolute win or lose

MIAMI -- The Miami Heat would have to make history to come back from a 3-1 NBA Finals deficit, but the future of their best player doesn't hinge on that happening.

The Heat's success or failure in these Finals will not affect LeBron James' decision on whether to opt out of his contract by the end of this month, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

James and the Heat would be the first team in NBA Finals history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit and come back and win a title. This is the 32nd time the Finals have been 3-1 after four games.

In NBA playoff history, eight teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, most recently the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2006 Western Conference playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers.

James scored 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting Thursday night, but the Heat got just 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting from Dwyane Wade, 12 points from Chris Bosh and little else from their bench outside of James Jones' 11 points as the Spurs manhandled them 107-86 in a game that wasn't close after the second quarter.

After the game, James was remarkably upbeat, saying he didn't have time to dwell on what coach Erik Spoelstra called "the biggest surprise of the series" because his two boys came into the locker room and took his mind off it.

"Soul searching, there won't be much of that," James said in his postgame news conference. "We're a veteran ballclub that's won a championship, that's won a couple of championships, that's been to four straight Finals. We know what it takes to win. We've just got to go out and do it."

Although James has been the Heat's most consistent player in this series -- averaging 27.5 points in the four games -- he often becomes the focus of criticism when they lose. It's a reality he has come to accept, not just live with. But for the Heat to come back in this series, James made a point of saying he could not carry the Heat alone.

"It's not all on my shoulders," James said. "It's not. I understand I get a lot of the limelight in the press and all that, but it's not all on my shoulders. I take a lot of it, but I do it for my teammates, and I want them to put a lot of pressure on me in that sense."

"It's not fatigue," Spoelstra said. "Both teams are playing the same minutes, same time of year. We just have to figure it out. San Antonio is playing great. They're exploiting where we're normally good, so we have to do a better job. We have 48 hours."